#katara analysis

Over the years, much of the fandom has totally flanderized the characters in a lot of the common headcanons and creative depictions. I know this happens in a lot of fandoms (especially big, older, ongoing ones), but I see it pretty commonly here, across the board in all ship spaces. This isn't to try to police how anyone makes content by any means, but pointing out how things can devolve into ridiculousness because of how audiences anticipate tropes to play out, and they then home in on them and whittle a character down to it in a way that's at odds with the depth of their actual portrayal. Below the cut, I discuss how I believe the fandom has done this to each member of the gaang after floating around the fandom the past 15ish years:

..is the take that's making rounds around TikTok and Twitter currently, that I disagree with. So let's talk about that.

First of, just to get it out of the way, this is a blatantly mysogynistic thing to say. To imply that a legacy of a woman is defined not by her actions but by her man, and that the "soft" guy "softened up" her image to a weak little healer, but the "edgy, cool, bad boy" would have "let" her maintain the edgy image of a warrior.

Way to completely undermine a woman's agency and ability to control her actions and how they are remained in history. Way to water down the achievements of a woman by implying they're so insignificant that she needs the "right man" to make sure they're remembered, and the "wrong man" will let them be forgotten. Way to imply that being remembered as a healer (a "traditionally" female role in the eyes of some of the fandom, because the way the NWT operates affected how fans perceive WT culture in general) is inferior to being remembered as a warrior (a "traditionally" male role, for the same reason as above). Your internalized mysonigy and hatred of everything you associate with femininity or womanhood is showing.

But that's only a footnote I have for this take. Another reason I don't like it is because it doesn't make sense.

In order for Katara to be remained as a warrior, either her greatest achievements that everyone knows and remembers more than anyone else should be fighting-centered, or she'd need to spend the majority of her life as a warrior so she's more warrior than anything else. In both scenarios, it's unlikely Katara would have been remembered as a warrior in any scenario, simply because she's been a healer for longer than she's been a warrior, and boyfriends don't change that.

Katara was active in the battlefield for one year of her life. And then there was no more war. So in order to be remembered as a warrior, Katara would have to retire from everything forever, or do everything she does for a lesser amount of time or with lesser results/effectiveness levels, allowing "Warrior" to remain her most longlasting/successful role throughout her life. And that's simply not like Katara at all. She was never able to be passive to people needing help or support, she would want to do something. And seeing as that "something" wouldn't be "Warrior" (because there's hardly a need for a warrior without a war), she's bound to do something else, for a prologued amount of time, and that something else would ultimately be what she was remembered as, because it'd be what she did for majority of her life.

Now, that "something" could have been scientist or politicians or teacher or cleaning lady or archeologist, but it ended up being a healer. And that had nothing to do with Aang and everything to do with a fact that she's a good healer and she likes to heal. Her healing abilities and their importance have been repeatedly showcased, and Katara's willingness to help people in whatever way she can. A warrior is only needed when there's a war, but a healer is only needed every time somebody gets injured or sick and needs help. And Katara likes being able to help. So, considering she couldn't remain a warrior without a war, she became a healer because these are always needed, everywhere, at all times. And then she remained a healer for several decades, resulting to her being remembered as one. It had nothing to do with Aang, and everything to do with Katara. And dating Zuko wouldn't have changed that.

There's only one way Katara could've possibly remain a warrior after the war was over, and that would be if she joined an army of some type. And I'm sure a mix of war related trauma, plus seeing some level of corruption in most of the armed forces she's encountered, plus not being much of a flag-praising patriot, Katara wouldn't want to join any armies.

So, let's review:

With the war being over, in order to reimain a warrior, Katara must join some type of armed force and continue war-ing.

Katara wouldn't want to do that, so that's out of the question.

Without an ongoing war or military service, the only way for Katara's main point of legacy to be her as a warrior is if Katara didn't do anything else better or for a more prolonged amount of time, allowing the label "Warrior" to keep the spotlight.

Katara wouldn't want to do that, because she doesn't want to be a passive figure in the narrative, she wants to be helpful and impactful. She wouldn't want to retire. She'd become something else.

So remaining in history as just "Warrior" is out of the question. She'll do something else, with more successfully or for longer, and that'll be her legacy.

What will that be? Maybe the skill she's been honing over and over again throughout all three seasons, the skill everyone values and needs because it's indispensable, and the skill she is proud of having and fits with her character and narrative because she likes helping people. Healing!

Flashforward to the last years of her life, Katara has been a healer for decades, she's helped countless of people, saved several lives, maybe taught her craft to somebody that was interested in learning, and her legacy is that of a healer because that's what she spent most of her life being.

You see how, in this cohesive train of thought that concludes with Katara being a healer while remaining faithful to her characterization and making sense narratively, I didn't mention Aang or Zuko once? That's because Katara being a healer had nothing to do with either of them, and everything to do with it making sense for who she is.

If she dated Zuko, would the war he everlasting so she can remain a warrior? Would she join the army to still be considered a warrior even without war? Would she retire after the war and never do anything again to let the war era define her entire legacy? No! She'd still become a healer! Because it makes sense for her character! And she'd be a damn good healer for a real long time, so she'd still be remembered as a healer!

Katara's actions are defined by HER, not any love interests. Katara's legacy is defined by HER actions, not who her husband is. Katara would still be a healer and be remembered as one no matter who she dated, and that's okay! Because she's proud to be a healer and it fits her narrative and character!

And it's misogynistic to imply her being a healer is wrong or bad or lesser than, and it's mysogynistic to imply a different boyfriend would fundamentally uproot her personality and values to the point being a healer doesn't fit her anymore when it's been part of her skillset and characterization since early book 1.

The misogyny in this is two fold. One is obviously painting a young girl’s anger towards her mother’s killer as something unreasonable or “dark” and saying her desire for justice through the means available to her is the wrong path. But further, it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of her character to say that. Katara is able to separate her righteous anger from the necessity of violence with no external factor because she values justice. We literally see her do it with Zuko. She’s mad at him (rightfully), but the only time she threatens to hurt him is right after he joins and she never follows through with that threat. In fact, she saves his life even before she’s forgiven him. The worst we see her do is throw a few verbal jabs his way. To paint her as someone who is “out of control” and “unstable” because of the very justifiable anger and grief she experiences in TSR is to completely mischaracterize her.

The ATLA fandom is funny. Because if there's one member of the Gaang whose skills are continuously doubted, it's Katara's.

No one hesitates in saying that Toph is the strongest Earthbender in the world. Aang has always been maintained as a natural prodigy. Sokka's strategic intelligence and cleverness are never in question. Most people are positive that Zuko would have beaten Azula if she hadn't targeted Katara and hail him as a swords master.

But for some reason, it's always Katara whose proficiency is either called into question or severely downplayed.

Some are skeptical about the legitimacy of her becoming a master in a short time. Others are certain that her victories are due to plot manipulation. Both of these arguments that ATLA is a kids' show which pushed it into giving her the win.

(Funny how ATLA is the greatest piece of media ever read until it comes to anything pertaining Katara's character lmao)

So I wanted to take a minute to talk about the progression of her waterbending skills and how she became Master Katara.

Pre North Pole

The first time we really see Katara practice waterbending is in The Waterbending Scroll when she decides to show Aang her limited very skill set. She noticeably has a difficult time with her bending, whereas he seems to pick it up rather quickly.

As we know, Katara has never met another waterbender before. She has no idea what their bending is supposed to look or feel like. And that's reflected in the moves she shows Aang.

I want to draw attention to Katara's stance here. She's stiff, even a little awkward. She's standing where more like an Earthbender. We see this repeated when she's practicing the Water Whip.

Even later when she does perform the Water Whip correctly, there are still traces of this.

You know how Iroh learned to redirect lightning watching Waterbenders? Well, my assumption (at this point I'm 80% sure it's meant to canon) is that Katara learned most of her bending by watching Aang and the Earthbenders they met around the world.

It makes sense, right? They would have been the closest thing to Waterbenders she could have learned from. She even asked Aang to teach her in the first episode. So the start of her bending began with incorporating the forms of Air and Earth.

And we see the results of that in her fight with Pakku.

Fighting Pakku

Katara's fight with Pakku is a great demonstration of his visually. He's a master, so he's already proficient at "push and pull." Katara is not. She's done it before, but it's not her go-to style when she's fighting. And we can see it in this fight.

Again, her stance is firm. She either blocks his attacks or bats them away. She doesn't reinforce and redirect them like he does hers. She isn't fighting like a Waterbender, she's fighting like an Earthbender.

Not to say this is a bad thing. Pakku himself even admits that she's good even though they both know she can't beat him.

Why am I bringing this up? Because one thing about Katara that's overlooked is her adaptability. When she didn't have a waterbending teacher, she made do with observing Earthbenders. She picked up Pakku's teachings even better than Aang had. And going forward from here it really begins to shine in her bending.

She completely dominates Pakku's other students and Zuko (twice). Why? What makes her so special compared to men who have been training their whole lives?

Because water is the element of change. By being so proficient in adapting (not just in her bending, but openly embracing different things and experiences and people), Katara unknowingly embraced the mentality of her element.

(It's actually a funny twist of fate because you could make the point that the North held its other Waterbenders back by being so bound to and unflinching in their traditions. It would explain why none of Pakku's students even stood a chance against her)

If you think about it, you could draw parallel to Yue explaining the history of Waterbending to Katara to the Sun Warriors explaining fire as an element to Zuko. In both cases, you can see that they're able to see and understand their element in a new light. Although it's more of a realization moment for Katara as she already knew about pushing and pulling and it's more of a lesson for Zuko who was taught something completely different.

Katara vs Azula (Round 1)

You know how I said people attribute her wins due to plot manipulation because ATLA is a kids' show? Well it seems like Katara vs Azula is the scene they focus on the most for that.

But let's be real, this isn't a fluke. The show purposely draws attention to Katara prowess and skills during this fight.

Azula is someone who's always in control. She's someone who goes into fights with full confidence. But she is completely thrown off by Katara's abilities here.

And this is something that persists throughout the entire fight. Katara completely overpowers her. At no point during the fight did Azula have the upper hand against her.

And remember, this is Azula's fight. She's the one who imprisoned Katara and Zuko. She's the one who attacked Katara and Aang to begin with. Sure, she was probably counting on her manipulation of Zuko working and him backing her, but there was no guarantee that he would be able to get away from Aang long enough to help her.

And right after this, Aang really struggles against Azula. He doesn't own the fight nearly as well as Katara does.

So, we know it isn't a fluke. The creators intentionally made Katara outclass Azula here. She's canonically the superior bender between the two of them. And that's not a small feat by any means. Azula at this time is one of the best Firebenders alive, probably fourth (after Ozai, Iroh, and Jeong Jeong (she could possibly be above Jeong Jeong)).

So what was the reason for this? Why was Katara able to outclass Azula so effortlessly?

Well here's where Katara's mastery of the meaning of her element comes into play again. She understands and excels in the concept behind water. Always changing, always adapting. She embraces water to its fullest capabilities (which also includes incorporating other elements into it; water would actually be the best element to do this with). The entire fight, she's switching stances and forms and keeping Azula on the evade. Whatever Azula throws back is dealt with without an issue.

And as we know, Azula (and most Firebenders) misunderstand fire as an element. She uses it solely as a destructive force, but it's also energy, life, and passion. This is also part of the reason Zuko lost so easily in the Northern Water Tribe; he also had the same issue. Katara's proficiency in water as not just a weapon, but an element, gave her the advantage over Azula she needed.

Katara vs Hama

A debate that comes up a lot is who's the better bender between Katara and Amon. To that I have always said Amon was taught Bloodbending, Katara just did it.

Let me reiterate: NO ONE TAUGHT KATARA BLOODBENDING. Hama explained the concept to her, yes, but never actually taught her. In fact, she did not expect her to pick it up without guidance. In her own words, "You should've learned the technique before you turned against me."

This was a technique that took Hama decades to learn. Tarrlok and Noatak were trained relentlessly. And Katara just... Did it. No guidance and no build up. This supports that Katara's adaptability and versatility in her bending is unmatched. She's able to comprehend and perform advance concepts with no training or teaching.

Now that we got that out of the way, this fight is so comprable to Katara vs Pakku. This is the second time she's fought a master and we can see how much she's improved. So much so that she doesn't even struggle against Hama.

At this point, she's mastered "push and pull." She's able to take everything Hama throws at her and send it right back with little to no effort.

But she takes it a step further.

Instead of redirecting, Katara completely stops Hama's onslaught. This undoubtedly is something she picked up from Earthbenders. It certainly isn't a Waterbending technique, yet somehow she made it into an effective move.

Look at Hama's face. She's completely thrown off by this. This was not something she ever expected out of any Waterbender. She was completely unprepared for Katara to be able to outmatch and overpower her.

Katara completely surpassed her, solidified by using the technique she invented against her.

I was going to talk about Katara and Azula's second fight, but there isn't much to add there. I already compared the difference in their skills talking about the first fight, and the Agni Kai is an escalation of that. The outcome of the Agni Kai was already decided and confirmed in the catacombs.

She sees Aang do something even mildly adorable and suddenly she becomes overwhelmed™️ and starts thinking of everything he’s been through, and how good he is to her and how happy he seems after the war, and how much she values his presence in her life and how noble and gentle and kind he is and how she thinks he brings light everywhere he goes, and she loves him more than she can express with words and suddenly she starts *sobbing* and Aang is like “oms are you ok??”

She looks at Sokka one day and suddenly he makes a face that looks exactly like their mother, and she starts to think of how far he’s come and how supportive he always was of her even through his misguided misogynistic boy years because she knows he’s never really been that way, he was just trying to be what he thought a man was, and now look at the man he’s grown into, and he sees her and says “are you alright? you’re staring at me funny. did i do something?” and she just starts *sobbing uncontrollably* (however she tries to keep it together bc he’s her brother and losing it in front of him is way too embarrassing lol)

All this to say I think what’s so beautiful about Katara is how her anger is something that comes from her capability to feel everything so deeply. It comes from love and a desire to protect the things that are precious to her, and when she helps others she is guided by empathy. She is so so so emotionally intuitive and not only that, but she also understands fundamentally that her emotions are a sacred part of her. She takes pride in them and lets them guide her and it’s so inspiring to me.

So I think Katara would end up with an odd mix. She's obviously a staunch feminist who thinks girls and women should follow their own paths, regardless of what society in general thinks their roles should be. But at the same time, she can't escape from some of the subtler (and possibly more insidious) traditions of 'propriety' and the role of women as the homemakers.

[Obligatory disclaimer that I don't know that much about Inuit culture when it comes to these things. I'm purely basing this off of what is shown in the cartoon itself.]

Something that kinda goes along with this is Katara's necklace. To her, it's a symbol of her grandmother's struggle for independence, as well as a memento of her mother and the sacrificial love she displayed. In the NWT, it represented (at best) a romantic commitment and (at worst) a transfer of property. I don't think she'd associate hers with either, and she'd probably be insulted if Aang tried to give her a new one when proposing.

(I maintain that the necklace she wears as an old lady is the same one she had in childhood. The fact that it looks wonky in that one screenshot is nothing more than lackluster rendering.)

Anyway, I've gone a little off topic. I just think she's a really interesting study in how someone can rail against the negative parts of their culture that don't appeal to them, while also having an internalized fondness for some of those same traditions, simply because they are familiar and nostalgic.

Take Toph for contrast. I don't think she's the butch anti-feminine person a lot of people make her out to be. She just does what she wants. She's perfectly happy to go to the spa or wear dresses and makeup, but only if it's her choice to do so. She's railing against the repressive and oppressive culture of elite EK society simply because she previously had no agency over her life.

Meanwhile, Katara takes an active role in seeing to the physical and emotional needs of her brother/friends. And even though that 'motherly' role is largely a trauma response and something she deeply resents at times, I think it's also a source of comfort to her. Something about her culture that she desperately clings to.

I think a lot about her and Aang's life post-war. They would be very focused on reconstruction for years, most likely. Katara would have her own projects with the Water Tribes, but also spend a lot of time helping Aang. Some part of her craves the validation of appearing to be 'proper' concerning her relationship with him. Maybe she's a bit hypocritical about it: unwilling to wait until they've settled down to be intimate, but also reluctant to publicly break certain social 'rules'.

She keeps telling herself there's so much to do in the world, and maybe she feels this heavy burden to do as much good as she can before allowing herself to rest and slow down and create the family she's always wanted.

But then ten(ish) years have passed and suddenly! Baby on the way! Oops! Katara knows she's a public figure and cares a lot about how she's seen. She wants the respect of the people from her own culture. And so they stop. They get married. They settle down.

Katara becomes the wife and mother, which she definitely wants while also having some lingering regrets and conflicting feelings. She still wants to be a role model for other girls and women, but she likes not being constantly on the move and fighting people and playing politics. She likes getting up in the middle of the night to sing an old Water Tribe lullaby to her baby. She likes it the most when Aang is there because he's always seen her as an equal partner, not a piece of property.

Update: The views expressed on Aang in this post are majorly dated.

Katara has been..

a controversial character. Particularly for the following reasons.

Supposedly talking about her mother "all the time", bringing it up out of context, making it all about herself and lashing out about it.

Sure Zuko is no prodigy but Katara? As soon as she got access to a skilled and capable master to teach her she quickly progressed and rose above the other students in no time. Pakku called her a master within weeks of her training, after which she went on to teach the Avatar. Every single time she faced a new problem, her quick thinking got her out. Girly used her own sweat to escape prison, and mastered bloodbending the same night she learned it existed when it took Hama months to perfect, all out of pure necessity.

Being a prodigy isn't about how early in life you become a master, but how quickly you become one once you have access to the right tools, and how inventive you can be in high pressure situations. Azula had top notch trainers at an early age and was raised a perfectionist. Aang's teacher was one of the high monks, and one of the wisest to boot. I mean Gyatso literally had a statue at the southern temple. And if Aang hadn't been creative and invented his own airbending move, the air scooter, he wouldn't have been given the title of master airbender. Toph was taught the basics at an early age and trained with the original earthbenders, the giant mole rats, and then continued to progress when she entered the earth rumble scene.